'Broadway and beyond': Sun City Chorus and Concert Band prepare for spring show

Amanda Dickey/The Sun Today This spring's theme for the Sun City Chorus and Concert Band is 'Broadway and Beyond!'

Amanda Dickey/The Sun Today Music director Art Hansen and his wife Lorraine lead practice for the spring concert.

Amanda Dickey/The Sun Today Members of the chorus sit in on Wednesday practice in preparation for the spring concert.

Amanda Dickey/The Sun Today Members of the Sun City Chorus socialize before their Wednesday practice begins.

Amanda Dickey/The Sun Today Members of the Sun City Chorus work under the direction of Art Hansen and his wife Lorraine.

The Sun City Chorus and Concert Band will be celebrating its spring performance with the theme “Broadway and Beyond!”

Choir members and lifelong music lovers Lynn Krisko, Pat Zenone, Bob Foulks and Nancy Austin recently met in the lobby of Magnolia Hall to discuss the upcoming show, their excitement and dedication despite the challenges they face when learning difficult songs.

This spring season, the music include numbers by Richard Rodgers, Disney, MGM and “Les Miserables.” Unlike the Christmas concert, the spring concert features songs that are not as well-known and harder to learn.

“A lot of the songs we know, but not to the same degree as the Christmas tunes,” Austin said. “They go so fast and they have to be so precisely articulated that you have to nail every note or it’s gone.”

Foulks also emphasized the precision involved in this season’s concert.

“If we don’t articulate clearly, it sounds like mush to the audience,” Foulks said.

The Sun City Chorus began rehearsing for the spring performance 16 weeks ago under the guidance of music director Art Hansen and his wife Lorraine.

“There’s so much camaraderie and support involved in being a part of the chorus,” Austin said.

In addition to the fellowship and family mentality the group has developed since its inception, Austin and Zenone mentioned the benefits of music on the brain and body.

“We know that because of many studies done that there are all these great things music can do,” Zenone said. “Even when a group takes a breath together, it can help your health. How wonderful is that? We all try to breathe together and being a part of the chorus takes away a lot of the stress because of all the laughing and fun we have together.”

The concert evokes a wide array of emotions, from laughter to tears.

“We have a 20-minute section from ‘Les Miserables’ and it’s a medley of the best songs,” Krisko said. “Nobody ever got through rehearsal when we first started without tearing up at the end because the music was so moving. There isn’t anything in there that doesn’t touch someone some way… and for the first two weeks we were thinking, not only is the music extremely difficult to learn, but we don’t think we’re going to get through it because we kept tearing up.”

On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, the men of the choir are going to be singing a number from the musical adaptation of Richard Rodgers’ “South Pacific.”

“We have 30 men,” Foulks said. “Thirty exceptional, outstanding men. And we just have so much fun. We’re singing a piece special to us from ‘South Pacific’ where the men around the beach are lonely and hungry and they belt out the song ‘There’s Nothing like a Dame.’ ”

Though the members of the chorus and band are retirees, they are also involved in many other group activities and clubs. Rehearsals are every Monday and Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“We’ll be adding Saturday dress rehearsals soon when the band comes in to practice with us,” Krisko said. “So, we’ll have two Saturday rehearsals on top of the five hours a week we’re doing now prior to the concert.”

Before every performance, the group participates in a warm-up for half an hour to 45 minutes.

“People don’t realize that we’ve just done an intense 45-minute warm-up before the show,” Austin said. “Then we get a half-hour break and then we do the concert. It’s intense; it’s aerobic.”

Austin and Foulks commented on the quality of the choir members and band.

“This is a Juilliard-directed production and it’s audition only,” Austin said. “I think we could say that this is eight-part harmony at times and it’s of such high quality.”

One-hundred participants will be performing in the spring concert. The concert band includes members from Sun City and outside musicians from Columbia.

“The basic premise is that we get up there and we sing our hearts out,” Krisko said. “The band does everything they can do to entertain the audience as well.”

This season, complimentary wine will be served at the evening shows only during the intermission.

The concert is open to everyone who wishes to attend. For more information or to order tickets, call 368-3153.